Authored by Dev Menon

In a busy and hectic society like Singapore, one word that everyone, from primary school students to working adults, all long for is “time”. We give excuses that we have no time, we say, “I need more time” or “I got not enough time” (pardon the Singlish), but there’re only 24 hours in a day! Do you often find that you are really terrible at managing your time, and everything from school/work to ministry and even time with God is stretched so thin? Well I do. Time is a tricky thing, we all want time to eat, time to sleep, time to be with others and the list goes on. We try to balance all our time and commitments and, as Dev Menon puts it, we try to be plate spinners. We spin fragile plates, going back and forth trying to balance everything and usually to no avail. To continue in such a manner is simply suicidal, this balancing act will eventually kill us. How then can we go about mastering the art of life?

With a series of light-hearted stories and teasers, together with beautiful illustrations, Dev Menon helps to demolish the excuse of “no time”; to re-orientate our mindsets to what truly is important. As though a friend who has “been there” is talking to you, it was truly an enjoyable, easy-to-follow read. I thoroughly enjoyed the way Dev Menon writes—chapters and segments were clear, sentences were easy to follow, tiny jokes or explanations for terms that Singaporeans commonly use made it seem as though he was right there talking to you. Young adult readers will appreciate his humour, Bible-centred text and probing questions. With suitable applications, readers will be able to re-think their course of life, to adjust their focus, placing Jesus at the centre of this new balancing act that is worthy of the audience of One, God.

I’ve been really blessed by this really short book of 75 pages. (Wait, what? Yes, it’s really short but packs a punch.) It came at a time when I was trying to re-evaluate all the plates I have, taking a break from ministry and seeing where God is leading me to in my next phase of life. At the time of writing, my mind and heart are learning to be re-orientated, to truly find rest in God and to learn to place Jesus at the centre of all my plates. I hope this book will minister to you too if you’re a busy young adult like me, or to anyone else seeking to gain a deeper relationship with the Heavenly Father and to learn to “balance” life.

You can view a sample of The Plate Spinner here.

This review is written by Jolie Pang who is a cardiac sonographer. In her free time, she enjoys reading under her covers or travelling the world in her dreams, and also physically.